Broadcasting and communication receiver apparatus

ABSTRACT

A digital receiver including: a receiver; a decoder; and a display controller, with a display having a first display zone displaying at least a part of the title included in program information and a second display zone displaying an entirety of the title, under control of the display controller; wherein the display controller includes an input data amount calculator calculating an amount of input data for the first display zone inputted from memory, and a comparator to compare the amount calculated with an amount of displayable data, and when the amount of the input data is larger than the amount of the displayable data, a part of the title and a symbol indicative of omission are displayed, and when the first display zone is selected, an entirety of the title in the selected first display zone is displayed in the second display zone.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/502,403, filedAug. 11, 2006 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,009,233, which is a continuation ofU.S. application Ser. No. 10/773,307, filed Feb. 9, 2004 (now U.S. Pat.No. 7,289,158), which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.09/418,822, filed Oct. 15, 1999 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,158,188, which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/844,431 filed Apr. 18, 1997(now U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,995). This application relates to and claimspriority from Japanese Patent Application No. 8-097993, filed on Apr.19, 1996. The entirety of the contents and subject matter of all of theabove is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a broadcasting and communicationreceiver apparatus which receives information about a transmissionprogram together with video and audio data, decodes and displays theprogram-associated data and more particularly, to a receiver apparatuswhich can display program-associated information.

In a prior art television signal receiver apparatus, program informationsuch as the title, start and end times of a broadcasting program has notbeen transmitted together with video and/or audio signal and thus it hasbeen impossible to display these information on a television displayscreen. For this reason, TV viewers have acquired these information froma program schedule chart run in newspaper.

Further, digital broadcasting has been being started in which digitizedsignals in place of conventional analog TV signals are transmitted toeach home via satellite, cable or land-based broadcasting. Satellitebroadcasting has been already realized in such a manner and, even inJapan, plans have been already in the works for start of such service.In the digital broadcasting, various sorts of additional information canbe transmitted simultaneously with digitized video and audio signals.When such additional information can be used to prepare a programschedule chart.

Meanwhile, even in the conventional analog broadcasting, when such asystem is employed that program-associated information is multiplexedduring vertical blanking interval, a program chart similar to that inthe digital broadcasting case can be prepared.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multiplex system of an analogbroadcasting type, in which S.sub.A denotes an audio signal, S.sub.V avideo signal, S.sub.P program-associated information such as a title,start and end times of a broadcasting program. Reference number 1denotes a multiplexer for multiplexing the video signal S.sub.V and theprogram-associated information S.sub.P, numeral 2 denotes a modulatorfor modulating the video signal S.sub.V and the audio signal S.sub.Ainto broadcasting electromagnetic wave.

In the analog broadcasting system, there is employed a method formultiplexing the program-associated information S.sub.P during thevertical blanking interval. However, the amount of information capableof multiplexing during the vertical blanking interval is small whencompared with the amount of information transmittable in the digitalbroadcasting system. In the analog broadcasting system, further, withrespect to its screen displaying function, its screen displaying abilityas well as the amount of information to be handled are restricted.Therefore, the display screen implemented based on the analogbroadcasting system is inferior in presentation ability to that based onthe digital broadcasting system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a multiplex system of a digitalbroadcasting type, in which reference symbols 3.sub.A, 3.sub.B and3.sub.P denote encoders for encoding the audio and video signals andprogram-associated information respectively. In the digital broadcastingsystem, the audio signal S.sub.A, video signal S.sub.V andprogram-associated information S.sub.P are encoded and compressedrespectively by the encoders 3.sub.A, 3.sub.B and 3.sub.P, and thensubjected by the multiplexer 1 to a time division multiplexing operationto obtain a multiplexed signal. The multiplexed signal is modulated bythe modulator 2 into broadcasting electromagnetic wave.

The digital broadcasting system is featured in that, since theprogram-associated information S.sub.P is encoded and compressed by theencoder 3.sub.P, more signals can be multiplexed than theprogram-associated information multiplexable in the analog broadcastingsystem.

When it is desired to display such program-associated information asprogram chart on a predetermined display zone of a display screen, e.g.,a television display screen, if a display zone necessary for fulldisplay of all the display data is larger than the predetermined displayzone, then all the display data cannot be fully displayed on the limiteddisplay zone. For this reason, there disadvantageously occurs such asituation that part of the originally-displayable information ismissing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a major object of the present invention to display theentire display data on specific information selected by a viewer or toadd an information correcting display when the display data is missingto thereby allow the information of the display data to be presentedwithin a limited display zone of a display screen.

Another object of the present invention is to eliminate the need fornewspapers and magazines carrying program-associated information.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provideda broadcasting and communication receiver apparatus which comprises areceiver means for receiving at least program-associated informationincluding title, start and end times of a broadcast program togetherwith a video signal and a audio signal; a decoder means for decoding theprogram-associated information from the received signal; a screendisplay means for processing and displaying the decodedprogram-associated information on a display screen; a command receivermeans for receiving an input signal from a remote controller or from akey or keys provided to a main body of the receiver apparatus; and adisplay controller means for controlling the display screen based on theinput signal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which;

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multiplex system of an analogbroadcasting type;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a multiplex system of a digitalbroadcasting type;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a broadcasting and communication receiverapparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is an example of a display screen for display ofprogram-associated information for explaining the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a first example of the program-associated information displayscreen in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a second example of the program-associated information displayscreen in FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a broadcasting and communication receiverapparatus in accordance with a second embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 is a third example of a display screen for display ofprogram-associated information in FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a fourth example of the program-associated information displayscreen in FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference tothe accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a broadcasting and communication receiverapparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention,which includes an input terminal 101 for input of broadcasting andcommunication signals from an external antenna or the like, a separatoror demultiplexer 102 for extracting any one of video and audio signalsand program-associated information signal from the received signal, a NVdecoder 103 for decoding the video and audio signals to reproduceoriginal image and original audio, an image multiplexer 104 formultiplexing the video signal and such graphics as characters, atelevision display 105, a command receiver 106 for receiving a userinput, an information decoder 107 for decoding the transmittedprogram-associated information, a program-associated information buffer108 for holding therein the decoded program-associated information, acontrol micro-computer 110 containing the above elements 106 to 109, aninput data amount calculator 111 for calculating the amount of displaydata received from the information buffer, displayable-data amountcalculator 113 for calculating the number of character rows capable ofbeing displayed on the display screen, a comparator 112 for comparingthe amount of input data with the amount of displayable data, a displaydata setter 114 for setting character rows to be displayed, and adisplay controller 109 containing the above elements 111 to 114 forcontrolling the image multiplexer. Further included in the broadcastingand communication receiver apparatus are a receiver 118 for receivingbroadcasting and communication signals and a decoder 119 for decodingthe received signals.

In FIG. 3, a signal applied to the input terminal 101 is sent to thedemultiplexer 102 through the receiver 118 and decoder 119. Thedemultiplexer 102 extracts video and audio signals from the receivedsignal and sends them to the A/V decoder 103. Similarly, thedemultiplexer 102 also extracts program-associated information from thereceived signal and sends it to the information decoder 107 of thecontrol micro-computer 110. Program-associated information decoded bythe information decoder 107 is sent to the program-associatedinformation buffer 108.

When a signal indicative of a request of displaying theprogram-associated information is input to the command receiver 106, theprogram-associated information held in the program-associatedinformation buffer 108 is sent to the input data amount calculator 111of the display controller 109. The comparator 112 of the displaycontroller 109 compares the number of character rows calculated by theinput data amount calculator 111 with the number of displayablecharacter rows calculated by the displayable-data amount calculator 113,and sends its comparison result and the input data to the display datasetter 114 for setting of the display characters. The display controller109 controls the image multiplexer 104 in such a manner that the imagemultiplexer 104 multiplexes the display data received from the displaydata setter 114 and the video signal received from the NV decoder 103and displays it on the television display 105.

When the number of character rows of the input data is larger than thenumber of displayable character rows, the display data setter 114 sendsas display data to the image multiplexer 104 the displayable characterrows of the input data with a symbol indicative of omission added to thetail of last one of the character rows thereof.

Shown in FIG. 4 is an example of a display screen for display ofprogram-associated information for explaining the present invention, inwhich reference numeral 201 denotes a program start time, numeral 202denotes a program end time, and 203 denotes a program title. In theexample of the program-associated information display screen of FIG. 4,the start and end times 201 and 202 and title 203 of the program arearranged in a row to express its program broadcasting schedule, but adisplay zone for displaying the program title 203 is too narrow todisplay all the program title 203 on the screen until its very end.

In particular, when the system is required to express in Japanese(Kanji), it is necessary to make large the size of Kanji characters forits expression, which results in that the number of character rowsdisplayable within the display zone is decreased and thus all thedisplay data cannot be fully displayed.

FIG. 5 is a first example of the program-associated information displayscreen in FIG. 3. In FIG. 5, numeral 301 denotes an omission symbolindicative of the fact that a tail part of the display data is omitted.

In the case of the program-associated information display screen of FIG.4, it is impossible to judge whether the display data such as theprogram title is fully displayed to its very end or displayablecharacter rows alone of the display data are displayed. In the case ofthe program-associated information display screen of FIG. 5, on theother hand, when displayable character rows alone of the display dataare displayed, the omission symbol 301 indicative of omission of thetail part of the display data is attached to the last tail of thedisplay character row, whereby a viewer can clearly know it. Although “. . . ” has been employed as the omission symbol in theprogram-associated information data screen of FIG. 5, another suitablesymbol may be used as necessary. Further, contents to be displayed isnot limited to such program-associated information as the program starttime 201, program end time 202 and program title 203, but otherinformation may be allowed.

FIG. 6 shows a second example of the program-associated informationdisplay screen in FIG. 3, in which numeral 401 denotes a first displayzone made up of n program display areas 401.sub.1, 401.sub.2, . . . ,401.sub.n−1, and 401.sub.n, 402 denotes a second display zone, 403denotes a cursor for selecting either one of the n program display areas401.sub.1, 401.sub.2, . . . , 401.sub.n−1 in the first display zone, and404 denotes a display zone in which a plurality (1, . . . , and n) ofthe first display zones 401 are arranged.

Displayed on the first display zone 401 is at least part of display dataincluding program title. Displayed on the second display zone 402 arethe same display data including program titles as displayed on the firstdisplay zone 401 fully without any omission. The cursor 403, in responseto a user input signal, selects desired one of the n program displayareas in the first display zone 401. In this way, since the operation ofthe cursor 403 causes the user to arbitrarily select the specific firstdisplay zone 401 (for example, 4011) from the first display zone 401arranged in the alternative display zone 404, all the display dataincluding program title required by the user can be fully displayedwithout any omission.

Since only the display data required by the user are displayed withoutany omission on-the second display zone 402 and display data aredisplayed with an omission symbol on the first display zone 401; morefirst display zones can be displayed within the alternative display zone404.\

Turning to FIG. 7, there is shown a block diagram of a broadcasting andcommunication receiver apparatus in accordance with a second embodimentof the present invention, which includes a time informationdiscriminator 115 for discriminating time information of input data, adisplay time band setter 117 for setting a time band of a program chartto be displayed on the display screen, and a time information comparator116 for comparing the time information of the input data with the timeband of the program chart. Other constituent elements are the same asthose in FIG. 3.

When a signal indicative of a request of displaying program-associatedinformation on the display screen is input to the command receiver 106,the program-associated information hold in the program-associatedinformation buffer 108 is sent therefrom to the time informationdiscriminator 115 of the display controller 109, The time informationcomparator 116 of the-display controller 109 compares the timeinformation discriminated by the time information discriminator 115 withthe display time band set by the display time band setter 117, and sendsits comparison result and the input data to the display data setter 114where their display format is set. The display controller 109 controlsthe image multiplexer 104 and composes the display data received fromthe display data setter and the video signal received from the NVdecoder 103 to display it on the television display 105.

The above program-associated information display screen has such adisplay format that uses at least character string in each informationfield and background, that is, shows such a program chart indicative ofprogram broadcasting schedule that a program start time is given at theleft end of each program name field and a program end time is given atthe right end of each information field.

When the time information of the input data is judged to be out of adisplay time band range, the display data setter 114 modifies the shapeof the left or right end of the display data and sends it to the imagemultiplexer 104. The display data setter 114 modifies the shape of theleft or right end of the program name field to clearly indicate that thestart or end time of the program is located out of the time band rangeof the program chart being displayed.

FIG. 8 shows a third example of the program-associated informationdisplay screen in FIG. 7, which includes a channel number column 501, atime scale column 502, first program name display column 503 indicativeof n-channel program display zones 503.sub.1, 503.sub.2, . . .503.sub.n−1 and 503.sub.n, a second program name display column 504, acontinuation display pattern 505 indicative of the fact that a programbroadcast start or end time is located out of the program chart beingdisplayed, and a program name alternative column 506 in which aplurality (n=l, . . . ) of the first program name display columns 503are arranged.

In the program display screen, abscissa denotes time, a display startposition of the first program name display column 503 in the horizontaldirection indicates a broadcast start time, and its horizontal lengthindicates a program broadcast duration. A measure of time is expressedin the time scale column 502.

Further, ordinate indicates broadcast channel. Displayed on the channelnumber column 501 are channel numbers of broadcasting stations, names orlogo marks of the broadcasting stations.

The user operates the cursor 403 using a remote controller or a key orkeys provided on the main body of the receiver apparatus to select oneof the first program name display columns 503.sub.1, 503.sub.2, . . .and 503.sub.n displayed within the program name alternative column 506.The selected first program name display column 503 is also displayed inthe second program name display column 504. More specifically, at leastpart of the program title is displayed on the first program name displaycolumn 503, whereas, all the program title is wholly displayed withoutany omission on the second program name display column 504.

The broadcast start time, broadcast duration or broadcast end time of aprogram is expressed based on a measure of a time displayed in the timescale column 502. However, when the program broadcast duration is longerthan a duration expressible on the program chart screen or when theprogram broadcast star or end time is located out of the time bandexpressed in the program chart being displayed, it is impossible toexpress the program broadcast start or end time within the program chartdisplay screen. For the purpose of expressing that the programbroadcasting starts with a time earlier than the time band beingdisplayed or that the program broadcasting ends in a time later than thetime band being displayed; the continuation display pattern 505 is used.

By using the continuation display pattern 505, when the broadcastduration is overlapped as located ahead or behind the time band beingdisplayed, it is possible to express that the broadcast start or endtime is out of the time band being displayed.

Shown in FIG. 9 is a fourth example of the program-associatedinformation display screen in FIG. 7, which includes a third timeinformation display column 601.

On the program display screen, the third time information display column601 is provided within the program-associated information display screento express therein broadcast start and end times of a program.Therefore, when the program broadcast duration is longer than a durationdisplayable on the program display screen so that the program broadcaststart or time cannot be expressed within the time scale column 502 ofthe program chart screen; it is possible to clearly display thebroadcast start and end times, i.e., the time information of thereceived program-associated information without any omission.

The time information display column 601 may be an independent displayzone or may be provided within the second program name display column504 to be expressed together with the program title.

Although explanation has been made in connection with the programdisplay screen based on the digital broadcasting system in the presentembodiment, the present invention is not limited to the specific digitalbroadcasting system but may be applied to such a broadcasting systemthat the program-associated information is transmitted as multiplexed tothe conventional analog television broadcasting system. Further, thepresent invention is not restricted to the program chart display screenbut may be applied to other general display one.

In accordance with the present invention, there can be provided, when itis desired to display information associated with an item selectedcondition, a program-associated information display screen of abroadcasting and communication receiver apparatus, on which all displaydata of the program-associated information received by the receiverapparatus are fully displayed without any omission.

Further, the user can eliminate the need for purchasing newspapers ormagazines-carrying the program-associated information.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A digital receiver comprising: a receiverwhich receives video program and program information at least includinga title of a video program and time information; a decoder which decodesthe program information; a display unit which displays at least theprogram information; and a display controller which controls display ofa display zone shown on the display unit, the display zone in which atleast a part of the title included in the program information isdisplayed under control of the display controller; wherein the displayzone is displayed in a program information display which displays thedisplay zone corresponding to a video program with a start time and anend time of the video Program without displaying a time scale, whereinthe display controller includes an input data amount calculator tocalculate a number of characters of input data for the display zone, anda comparator to compare the number of characters of the input data ascalculated by the calculator, with a number of characters of displayabledata in the display zone, wherein the number of characters ofdisplayable data is changed depending on a size of characters of theinput data, and wherein, even if the display zone has an area for nomore lines of characters than only one line of characters to bedisplayed when the number of characters of the input data is larger thanthe number of characters of the displayable data in the display zone,both a part of the title and a symbol indicative of omission aredisplayed without line feed in the area of the only one line ofcharacters.
 2. The digital receiver according to claim 1, furthercomprising: a memory which stores the program information which isdecoded by the decoder; wherein the input data amount calculatorcalculates a number of characters of a data for the display zone whichis input from the memory.
 3. The digital receiver according to claim 1,wherein the time information is information based upon which the starttime and the end time of the video program can be calculated.
 4. Thedigital receiver according to claim 1, wherein the program informationdisplay is more particularly displayed without displaying anequally-incremented time scale axis.
 5. A digital receiver comprising: areceiver which receives video program, title information of a videoprogram, and time information; a decoder which decodes the titleinformation; a display unit; and a display controller which controlsdisplay of a display zone shown on the display unit, the display zone inwhich at least a part of the title information is displayed undercontrol of the display controller; wherein the display zone is displayedin a program information display which displays the display zonecorresponding to a video program with a start time and an end time ofthe video program without displaying a time scale, wherein the displaycontroller includes an input data amount calculator to calculate anumber of characters of a data for the display zone, and a comparator tocompare the number of characters of the input data calculated by thecalculator with a number of characters of displayable data in thedisplay zone, wherein the number of characters of displayable data ischanged depending on a size of characters of the input data, andwherein, even if the display zone has an area for no more lines ofcharacters than only one line of characters to be displayed when thenumber of characters of the input data is larger than the number ofcharacters of the displayable data in the display zone, both a part ofthe title information and a symbol indicative of omission are displayedwithout line feed in the area of the only one line of characters.
 6. Thedigital receiver according to claim 1, further comprising: a memorywhich stores the title information which is decoded by the decoder;wherein the input data amount calculator calculates a number ofcharacters of a data for the display zone which is input from thememory.
 7. The digital receiver according to claim 5, wherein the timeinformation is information based upon which the start time and the endtime of the video program can be calculated.
 8. A digital receivercomprising: a receiver which receives video program and programinformation at least including a title of a video program and timeinformation; a decoder which decodes the program information; a displayunit which displays at least the program information; and a displaycontroller which controls display of a display zone shown on the displayunit, the display zone in which at least a part of the title included inthe program information is displayed under control of the displaycontroller; wherein the display zone is displayed in a programinformation display which displays the display zone corresponding to avideo program with a start time and an end time of the video Programwithout displaying a time scale, wherein the display controllerdetermines replacement of a part of the program information by anomission symbol, by taking into account an amount of data displayable inthe display zone, an amount of the program information, and a charactertype of a character included in the program information, and wherein,even if the display zone has an area for no more lines of charactersthan only one line of characters to be displayed when the displaycontroller replaces a part of the program information by an omissionsymbol, both a part of the title information and an omission symbol aredisplayed without line feed in the area of the only one line ofcharacters.
 9. The digital receiver according to claim 8, furthercomprising: a memory which stores the program information which isdecoded by the decoder.
 10. The digital receiver according to claim 8,wherein the time information is information based upon which the starttime and the end time of the video program can be calculated.
 11. Adigital receiver comprising: a receiver which receives video program,title information of a video program and time information; a decoderwhich decodes the title information; a display unit; and a displaycontroller which controls display of a display zone shown on the displayunit, the display zone in which at least a part of the title informationis displayed under control of the display controller; wherein thedisplay zone is displayed in a program information display whichdisplays the display zone corresponding to a video program with a starttime and an end time of the video program without displaying a timescale, wherein the display controller determines replacement of a partof the title information by an omission symbol by taking into account anamount of data displayable in the display zone, an amount of the titleinformation, and a character type of a character included in the titleinformation; and wherein, even if the display zone has an area for nomore lines of characters than only one line of characters to bedisplayed when the display controller replaces a part of the programinformation by an omission symbol, both a part of the title informationand an omission symbol are displayed without line feed in the area ofthe only one line of characters.
 12. The digital receiver according toclaim 11, further comprising: a memory which stores the titleinformation which is decoded by the decoder.
 13. The digital receiveraccording to claim 11, wherein the time information is information basedupon which the start time and the end time of the video program can becalculated.
 14. A digital receiver comprising: a receiver which receivesvideo program and program information including a title of a videoprogram and time information; a decoder which decodes the programinformation; a display unit which displays at least the programinformation; and a display controller which controls display of adisplay zone shown on the display unit, the display zone in which atleast a part of the title included in the program information isdisplayed under control of the display controller; wherein the displayzone is displayed in a program information display which displays thedisplay zone corresponding to a video program with a start time and anend time of the video program without displaying a time scale, whereinthe display controller determines whether a part of the title does notfit in the display zone by taking into account display size of the titlethat varies depending on the size of a character included in the title,and wherein, even if the display zone has an area for no more lines ofcharacters than only one line of characters to be displayed when thetitle does not fit in the display zone, the display controller replacesa tail part of the title by an omission symbol and both the remainingpart of the title and the omission symbol are displayed without linefeed in the area of the only one line of characters.
 15. The digitalreceiver according to claim 14, further comprising: a memory whichstores title information which is decoded by the decoder.
 16. Thedigital receiver according to claim 14, wherein the time information isinformation based upon which the start time and the end time of thevideo program can be calculated.
 17. A digital receiver comprising: areceiver which receives video program, title information of a videoprogram and time information; a decoder which decodes the titleinformation; a display unit; and a display controller which controlsdisplay of a display zone shown on the display unit, the display zone inwhich at least a part of the title information is displayed undercontrol of the display controller; wherein the display zone is displayedin a program information display which displays the display zonecorresponding to a video program with a start time and an end time ofthe video program without displaying a time scale, wherein the displaycontroller determines whether the title information does not fit in thedisplay zone by taking into account display size of the titleinformation that varies depending on the size of a character included inthe title information, and wherein, even if the display zone has an areafor no more lines of characters than only one line of characters to bedisplayed when the title information does not fit in the display zone,the display controller replaces a tail part of the title information byan omission symbol and both the remaining part of the title informationand the omission symbol are displayed without line feed in the area ofthe only one line of characters.
 18. The digital receiver according toclaim 17, further comprising: a memory which stores the titleinformation which is decoded by the decoder.
 19. The digital receiveraccording to claim 17, wherein the time information is information basedupon which the start time and the end time of the video program can becalculated.